Appalachian Trail on Roan Mountain
In their quest to hike the entire 2,100 mile Appalachian Trail in weekend and week-long sections, Kelly Pipes and Hank Perkins planned another hard weekend trip for April 9 - 10, 2011. Invited along were Jim Smoak and me, Bob Laney. Will McElwee and David Doyle had conflicts. All of…
Virginia Creeper Fall Foliage
On a beautiful, sunny Indian summer Saturday in late October, 2010, Paul Anderson and I took a pleasant trip to the Virginia Creeper Trail. The trail was crowded with other bikers enjoying the likely last warm weather of the fall and the bright leaf color. This year was not the…
Bears on Grandfather Mountain
Over the weekend of July 30 - August 1, 2010, I went on a solo backpacking trip to the Tanawha Trail and across Grandfather Mountain. It was about my sixth backpacking trip this summer to train for the upcoming adventure in September with Will McElwee and his crew to Glacier…
Smokey Mountains Southwestern Half
Over the long weekend of June 17 - 20, 2010, Kelly Pipes, Hank Perkins and Bob Laney backpacked the Appalachian Trail in the southwestern half of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park, from the dam at Lake Fontana to US 441 at Newfound Gap. Thanks to Kelly and Hank for…